Wow! Thanks for the info Jose. How did you keep the camera from moving during the tape change? heh

Awesome. Freakin Awesome. I wonder why the unit has two record buttons, lol. I appreciate you doing that test. That's a BIG advantage.

So final assessment :

When out of tape, unit has about a second loss of audio and video while recording to card when new tape starts recording.

When out of CF card room, tape has no problems when switching cards. On unit, press stop when ready then press both REC buttons on unit to resume CF card capture.

This thing rocks! I actually like the 4GB file limit. I can back up each file to a single dvd when archiving with tape.

Thanks for the info Jose and Garrett.

I'd agree Randy, this little device is pretty awesome. It does have some small things that it could do better but I can live with them. And the ability to download and begin editing about 4 times faster than through tape, plus already have my archive copy on tape makes this thing more than worth the price for me.

Plus, I think it look cool.

Garrett

Can anyone answer the question on cold...how does it perform when used in cold temps 0 - 32 F?

Well, it's not all that bad: Sony has developed a plug-in for Final Cut Pro, but not for Final Cut Express.

Bob, can you explain what a cache is? Sorry, kind of new to this and don't know what this really means.

In a certain mode "cache", the device will continually be holding in memory the last 14 seconds of video so that when you start the record button you have actually recorded the previous 14 seconds of video.

It means you could wait until the football goes into the net and then start the recording and you have the ball prior to it going into the net.

Has this been tested out?

Bob

Fantastic, now if the cache was increased then you could take your camera to New York and capture footage of the jet ditching in the Hudson. :-)

Yes. I videoed a clock and pressed rec when the second hand hit 12. Playing back, the video clip started from when the second hand hit 46 seconds, ie 14 seconds earlier. Cool feature!
Oliver.

That is awesome! I film hunts and sometimes, you may have the camera rolling, but not hit record on time. That is a cool feature!

Yeah, this is one great feature. I recently did a dance show that they decided to just start without any warning. The sound guys usually give me a heads up about 30 seconds ahead and I can make sure all my sound/video is rolling. So, when the music started without any warning I had to scramble. Good thing I remembered to get the camera rolling first then run to fire up my audio. That 14 second cache saved the first number.

Garrett

Dropped audio???
 

I am very interested in this unit for my XH-A1 but I have one major question that I have not gotten a definitive answer on:

If you are filming a two hour show, are there dropped audio frames when the unit makes a new file?

Does the sony program or clipwrap fix this?

thank you.

Hi Jonathan,

From my experiences with it, I am getting about 5 1/2 frames of dropped audio and it misses two frames of video in the new file. What you see if you put the two files together at the break point of the first file the audio drops for about 5 1/2 frames then picks up in sync with real time at the start of the next file. For the video, the end of the first file is in sync, then the first two frames of the next file are the same and they seem to be two frames ahead of real time. Then the third frame falls back into sync with real time.

I was using the Cache mode so maybe if you don't have it on the files won't have this odd behavior.

This isn't a huge problem for me as I always run two cameras and a separate system for audio when I shoot a show. I also run tape as well as the Sony so I have just gone to the tape and taken the 10 frames each 20 minutes I need to make it look seamless. A bit more work but since the time codes match for the tape and CF unit it's really easy and fast to do the small tape capture I need.

Garrett

Pictures mounting the HVR-MRC1K On The XHA1
 

You that have the HVR-MRC1K, can you show some detailed/different angle photos (top, both sides view, of the attachment and cable routing. This Photo leaves out top view and right side view and how the velcro is installed. Thanks.

I would be interested in more photos as well.

Has anyone that purchased this unit been sorry.
I hate to spend the money but boy this would save so much time.

I use some large fast cards for my canon 1Ds Mark III and 1D Mark III, can I use these cards with the Sony unit, then reformat and use back in cameras?

Hey Rob,

Do you just remove the unit from the camera to change the card? Makes me nervous since the door is "flimsy" as it is.

That's my point:(
 

Brian, That's my point. I copied this from "Kevin Leeyuen" on page 13. I can't tell whats up with it , how this was done, or how it works. It's like a movie trailer , I really don't know whats up! We should always try to post so us dummies can learn how to implement what someone has brilliantly came up with:-)

It also cuts down on the questions you have. If you give me the info up front, I will just say
" Hey Thanks, and good job" and mean it.

P.S. I,m Guilty! I read my post that's 4 up from here (on page 20), and I didn't let you clearly know that I copied the photo from "Kevin Leeyuen" on page 13 of this thread.
I will now whip myself, with a microphone cord! With the XLR end exposed! Shame On Me!:)

I got mine today. It definitely makes the front end heavier when mounted in the hot shoe. Does anyone have any other mounting options (with photos)?

A simple solution is an app called ClipWrap.
It wil take your m2t files and rewrap them in a QT wrapper.
there is no transcoding of the file, as the file is just rewraped, so Final Cut can recognize it.

It is amazingly fast and works great, give it a try. I use it often going back and forth between Vegas on the PC side and FCP on the MAC side.

How about getting a handle bracket and mounting it to that.
this way the weight is centered on the center of the camera and not the front.

The only downside for A1 users is that teh transport controls are on the handle.

Clipwrap
 

Michael,

Does clipwrap eliminate the dropped audio & video frames between footage longer than the 4gb file limit?

Thought about that. I have used the transport controls once. I suppose I could carry the remote in my back pocket. hehe

Yes. Besides rewraping the file in a QT wrapper, ClipWrap also Automatically recombines spanned files.

So you can combine multiple files into one seamless file.

I decided to go with the 100 gig Canon Firestore Drive. I will use this on my A cam which has a mixer and sound recorder on it anyways, I just want to eliminate the need to run tapes.

I am hoping that this unit does allow for both digital and tape recording at the same time. If not will return it for the other option.

Clipwrap
 

Michael,

Have you tried combining files longer than the 4gb max and checked to see if there are any drops? This is the only thing holding me back from purchasing this unit.

Denny, if you are talking about the FireStore "FSC" , then yes, you can record with out tapes in the A1.

Can you also record with both, tapes and the FSC ?

Yes. no problems with both, tapes and the FSC. I don't use tapes anymore, but some do as a back up.

Thanks Rob, how do you like the FSC, I really would love the CF method but I get my share of Catholic Mass Weddings that last an hour, and worry about dropped frames in footage lasting more than an hour.

Cineform users with the Sony mrc1
 

Someone uses both Cineform ProspectHD and this gadget? With what result?

Hi Hernan,

I use the Sony with CineForm NeoHDV with no problems. The files come off of the CF cards as if you took them off the tape via firewire.

Garret

so close to sending it back..
 

I've tried everything I can think of since getting the MRC1K to make my A1 see it but nothing works. Different cables, everything advised to others on this thread, but it just doesn't see it, and I can't get into the iLink menu on the unit which seems to me like it can't see the A1 at all (it's greyed out).

I'm starting to think it might be the A1's firewire socket as I've seen many problems written about it on the net. I tried to dig in some footage to a MacBook Pro and it couldn't see it either so I'll try it with my Mac Pro tomorrow to see if it definitely is the socket.

I used the unit with a Canon HV10 and HV20 no problem but you don't get the 'synchro' control from the camera's stop/start button (is that right?). Just recording with the 2 REC buttons on the unit seems to work well so I'm assuming the unit is working???

Any advice greatly welcomed.

Thanks.

Thanks Garrett! But then i suppose u have to transcode the M2T files to Cineform´s AVIs by HDLink.

1. How much time does that process take, let´s say for 1 hour of footage?

2. Is the final quality of the converted clips the same than capturing from tape to Cineform (as i do with Premiere)?

Hi Hernan,

You are correct. Once I've copied the files I use HDLink to transcode into CineForm AVI's. The time it takes to transcode will of course depend on your machine but I'm using a Q9450 based machine and it goes pretty fast. I don't remember exactly how long it takes but it is faster than real time. The quality is exactly the same as capture from take and in fact I prefer to use HDLink as it allows me to set up batch transcoding.

I have to say that I'm really happy with the unit and how it has streamlined my workflow. I recently shot a first birthday party and within an hour of the end of the party I had a video edited and burned.

Garrett

Can someone please check this...
 

Can someone with the Sony unit please check to see if you record for extended periods of time, are there dropped frames or audio when you combine the clips with clipwrap? Thank you.

...But Avid MC does. It runs on MAC or PC straight out of the box. Problem solved :-)

Just checked out ClipWrap. It looks like an excellent tool!

In the online tutorial for ClipWrap, it mentioned that it will join together separate files recorded by tapeless devices (it specifically mentioned a Firestore in the tutorial) and will account for the HDV GOP in order to eliminate dropped frames when joining them together.

Has anyone checked the media that they've rewrapped using ClipWrap to see if it eliminates the dropped frame issues that people have gotten here?

Clipwrap???
 

Glenn,

I have asked this question twice and have not gotten a definitive response. This is the only questions holding me back from purchasing this unit. Hopefully someone out there can run a test for us......

I contacted DivergentMedia, the software company behind ClipWrap, and asked them if they have used the MC1 and whether or not their software can stitch the files back together in such a way as to avoid the short dropouts that some users have mentioned. Here's the email that I got back from Mike Woodworth over at DivergentMedia:

So it sounds like they have customers that have worked with the device and have had success in the past, although it's still a little unclear whether their software specifically solves the issue that many have mentioned.

I would still like to hear from somebody on this board who has the MC1 and has used ClipWrap with it.

Would like to see more photos too!